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Many great works of literature often focus on personal tragedy and ways of overcoming it In Shakespeares Hamlet however the inability of the main characters to confront their problems properly leads to the destruction of all The antagonist of the play Claudius allows his personal ambition for power to overshadow the will of his conscience Hamlet opens at the royal castle of Elsinore where a ghost bearing the visage of the recently deceased King Hamlet is seen walking the halls in battle gear Later it is learned that his brother Claudius has taken to the throne with King Hamlets ex-wife Gertrude after only two months since the Kings passing The son of the deceased King Hamlet sees the marriage as a travesty stating Oh God A beast that wants discourse of reason would have mourned longer married with my uncle My fathers brother but no more like my father than I to Hercules Shakespeare 13 Clearly Hamlet sees the marriage as incestuous in the beginning but he doesnt take action until he is visited by the apparition of his father who proclaims that Claudius killed him in lust for power Hamlet is asked If thou didst ever thy dear father love - oh God - Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder 27 Here begins Hamlets quest to avenge his father by laying ruin to King Claudius To be certain of the Kings guilt Hamlet puts on a play bearing a resemblance to how the ghost described the murder When King Claudius views it he feels a sudden pang of conscience and abruptly leaves This flinch provides a first glance by the reader and Hamlet that Claudius is guilty and is at odds with himself for his foul actions From a soliloquy after storming out of the play the reader becomesaware of the personal anguish Claudius possesses O my offense is rank itsmells to heaven It hath the primal eldest curse upont A brothers

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